Tag: piracy

The UFC’s ongoing war against dirty, no-good, PPV-stealing scoundrels wages on, Nation. Following a promise by Zuffa Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer Kirk Hendrick to “pursue the people who don’t want to pay for the goods and services they receive” earlier this year, the UFC has taken action against it’s first major target. His name is Steven A. Messina, a 27-year-old man who lives with his mom and dad in Great Kills, NY, and the UFC’s lawsuit against him is seeking a cool…32 MILLION DOLLARS. (My reaction)

While that figure is absolutely batsh*t bonkers crazypants, just wait until you hear how Messina got caught (via the NY Times):

UFC officials took note of Messina after he became increasingly cocky about his growing online status and referred to himself as the “Provider of Best MMA & Boxing rips online!,” the suit states.

He asked viewers to “Help Me Cap PPV!” through his PayPal account, called “MMA Capping Fund!,” according to the court papers, which allege he was trying to become the king of PPV pirates online.

Justin.tv used to be one of the go-to channel-streaming sites for UFC fans who wanted to watch pay-per-view fights without shelling out the cash — until the UFC filed a lawsuit against them in January 2011. As UFC lawyer Donald J. Campbell said at the time:

“Zuffa has attempted to work on numerous occasions with Justin.tv over nearly a two-year period to encourage it to prevent or limit its infringing activities. Regrettably, Justin.tv has not only turned a blind eye to the massive online piracy occurring on its website, we believe it has actually induced its users to commit copyright infringement thus leaving Zuffa no alternative but to take this fight to the courts.”

The suit came six months after the UFC served a subpoena on Justin.tv to get the names of users who provided streams of UFC broadcasts. But in a blow to the UFC’s ongoing battle against Internet piracy, the charges against Justin.tv were mostly tossed out earlier this month. And now, some analysis from people who understand this stuff a lot better than I do…

The move however could backfire on the UFC for at least the time being while Google’s legal team decides what to do, as the letter lists all of the sites that host the streams and videos, providing potential pirates with the means to steal from the company.

According to sources I’ve spoken to, the company has recently begun issuing similar letters to websites that use unlicensed copies of Getty Image photos from the UFC website, regardless of whether or not attribution is given. A likely next step could be to order Google to stop linking to sites guilty of the infraction.

I’m not a proponent of piracy in any way shape or form, but if Zuffa takes legal action against Google and the search engine counters by removing all search terms relating to the UFC and it’s fighters, it wouldn’t be great for the company.

(A harmless group of dudes enjoying some brews on a Saturday afternoon? Or a VAST CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY??? Photo courtesy of thedraftbarandgrille.com)

Watching pirated feeds of MMA pay-per-view events may seem like a cost-effective alternative to actually spending money on them. But no free ride lasts forever. According to a new story in The Vancouver Sun, the UFC plans to roll out an assault on those who distribute and consume unauthorized content. Said Lorenzo Fertitta during a recent referendum on Internet piracy: “The piracy of live sporting events is illegal, it kills jobs, and it threatens the expansion of US based companies. The UFC is potentially losing millions of dollars a year from piracy.” During UFC 106, Zuffa’s anti-piracy team counted 271 illegal streams of the event with over 140,000 viewers.

Though the UFC isn’t ruling out lawsuits against individual users, stream-hosting websites like Justin.tv will likely be the biggest targets of the new crackdown. "When people start going to jail, people will stop doing it,” Dana White said. “It’s going to be a battle, but I’m ready to (expletive) fight. We’re gonna go after them, we’re gonna go after them hard, and we’re gonna hurt ‘em.”

Unfortunately, someone’s gotta be the first guy to get kicked in the nuts, and those nuts belong to the kind of friendly neighborhood bar where everybody knows your name…